Category Archives: Background reading

The golden age of French artistic creativity, ‘la belle époque’, is the setting for the first concert of the 2017 season for the Sydney University Graduate Choir on the 21st May 2017. In this final instalment in a two part … Continue reading →

The golden age of French artistic creativity, ‘la belle époque’, is the setting for the first concert of the 2017 season for the Sydney University Graduate Choir on the 21st May 2017. In this first instalment in a two part … Continue reading →

Our year is drawing to a close—the days are growing longer and hotter, saturated in the scent of the flowers and crowned by the purple of the jacaranda. Summer and Christmas are almost here. But in England, Autumn’s colours have … Continue reading →

Since giving our performance of the Missa Dei Patris by the little-known Jan Dismas Zelenka on 1 December, we have learned that one of the world’s leading authorities on the Bohemian composer lives in Melbourne: she is Dr Janice Stockigt, … Continue reading →

In our last two subscription concerts the Choir presented two sacred masterpieces – the German Requiem of Johannes Brahms and the Messa da Requiem of Giuseppe Verdi – by great composers whose religious faith was tenuous at best. Today, we … Continue reading →

To the heart-pounding pulse of ‘Dies Irae’ – that terrifying day of reckoning, when thundering trumpets summon the buried dead – a horde of Klu Klux Klansmen surges out of the Stygian dark, their baleful hoods lit by burning torches. … Continue reading →

In my search for a better understanding of Christopher Brennan and his poetry I discovered that it is taught at our own University of Sydney. Dr Peter Kirkpatrick of the Australian Literature section of the Department of English includes it … Continue reading →

With our December concert just a few days away, there are several fascinating articles on poet Christopher Brennan and Christopher Bowen’s wonderful composition ‘Songs of the Heart’ available as background reading for singers, and as encouragement for our potential audience. … Continue reading →